Why Michail Antonio Should Have Played For England Against Slovakia
England played another abjectly boring performance last night, limping to a 1-0 win. A 10 man Slovakia held England for much of the game, but I think one man could have made a difference. Michail Antonio could have won the game earlier for England. Here’s why.
Alternative To What We Have
He actually offers something different, rather than just more of the same. Both Lallana and Sterling are content to play football in front of the back four, but Michail Antonio won’t. He’s not happy passing the ball backwards and forwards.
Granted that may not be the game plan Allardyce wanted. But when it was looking stale, he should have thrown the former Forest man on. He would give the defence something completely different to think about and freed up more space.
When you know that the opposition are happy to pass the ball around in front of the defence then your defensive midfielders do not have to over commit to their cover, they can simply wheel round slowly and take up space. When you have someone diving in behind then you have to follow them.
Physicality
When you’re camped in the opponents half and looking to grab a goal by a direct method, who do you turn to? There’s no Andy Carroll in the team, and Harry Kane is already on the pitch. Let me have a look at these stats.
Since the start of 2015/16, Michail Antonio has a league-high 8 headed goals
And it's got him in the England squad! pic.twitter.com/npZ55c2RHh
— Match of the Day (@BBCMOTD) August 28, 2016
Since his West Ham debut, no English midfielder scores more goals in the Premier League than Antonio. So if you’re after headed goals…
He offers everything England lacked, and that includes a truly direct option. There are people with better technique, but no-one as explosive. No-one that can reach as many crosses. No-one with a better nose for popping up in the right places.
Rooney’s legs are not up to making the runs he used to, and Lallana, despite his goal, should not be starting in my opinion because I don’t feel he does anything better than anyone else. He is a useful squad player.
The Match Was Calling Out For It
We were playing Slovakia. Not a top tier side. This was not a team we had to be too worried about Antonio getting out of position and countering. And if they did get the ball, who’s quicker on the break? Lallana or Antonio? Sterling is the only England attacker that could even get close to matching Antonio’s pace.
Everytime I think about it I still can’t believe we got through it with a win the way we were going. When it didn’t work what did Allardyce do? Tried the same again. It was like Hodgson again.
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I will wait and see if any personality emerges from Allardyce’s teams, but when he continues to pick Henderson over Noble given the former offering absolutely nothing every time he’s been on a pitch recently and then doesn’t put the most in form English winger on when we need a goal I will have my doubts.
Antonio for England. He was delighted to get called up. He should have got his first cap.
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